Building Rapport with Employees, Prospects and Customers – ITPN-EP003

Every wonder why you are not closing the deals you think you should or why you seem to be losing customers or employees left and right? I was there once, there were a lot of reasons that this was happening but one of the main reasons was that no one in our company was building lasting relationships. No one was building rapport. On this episode of the IT Provider Network we are going to talk about some proven ways you can use to build rapport and lasting relationships with your prospects, customer and employees. Join me on this episode as we explore over 10 different ways to build rapport.

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Episode 3 – Building Rapport

Transcript

[0:00]Ever wonder why you’re not closing the deals you think you should.Hawaii losing customers and employees left and right I was there once there’s a lot of reasons why this was happening but one of the main reasons was no one in my company was building lasting relationships.No one was building rapport.On this episode of the it provider Network we’re going to talk about some proven ways you can use to build rapport and lasting relationships with your prospects customers and employees.

[0:36]Music.

[0:51]I am welcome to episode 3 of the it provider Network thanks for joining me and is always my goal is to bring you great content that will help you build grow and scale your man is service business.I was recently asked by someone on my management team to elaborate on the statement I made about building rapport with our customers.My comment was after someone in my finance department said that she emailed a new customer about setting up our company as a vendor.I told her not to forget to pick up the phone with our new customers and build a relationship.That relationship needs to be built with conversation so they were more than just a vendor is there AP contact but we’re a person we need to build real relationships with our customers and that’s true of our prospects and our employees as well.So I turn this statement into a PowerPoint presentation that I gave to our management team during our Monday morning meeting.I also took the time to record it so I can add it to Human Resources Arsenal and reuse it if and when the time comes that we need it again.This is a good practice to get into in your business always be thinking about maximizing the time you’re spending and being able to reuse or repurpose the content you create.If you’re giving your presentation recorded if you’re writing a blog post think about ways to make it Evergreen make content it’s always relevant.Interesting and relevant content it doesn’t become dated.This is particularly important now with social media using tools like social jukebox and before you can repost content with different titles and kind of a round-robin fashion.

[2:28]So what follows is the presentation I did for a management team I’ve included a link to the PowerPoint video on YouTube in the show notes at the it provider network.com / episode 3.Have a listen then I’ll be back to wrap things up hello everyone today we’re going to talk about building rapport with our customers.Our employees are prospects or for anyone for that matter so let’s start out with a simple definition what is rapport.She look at Wikipedia or if you could find one a dictionary.Wars Define is the clothes and harmonious relationship with people or groups and understanding their feelings ideas and being able to communicate well with them.That’s what Rapport is it’s the relationship it’s understanding it’s having a bond with someone having empathy.

[3:24]Does interesting CBS News In The Wall Street Journal did a poll and they asked people what percentage of people in general do you think are trustworthy.So imagine lining up a hundred people and asking someone out of those hundred people how many do you think are trustworthy.Answer was a little surprising to me thirty 30% of people the poll revealed people believe are trustworthy.I think that’s a pretty low percentage we’re pretty skeptical people aren’t we.Not necessarily they asked a different group of people the same question with a slight change.What percentage of people that you know in general are trustworthy so now it’s a hundred people that you know that are lined up in front of you what do you think the answer was.Well surprisingly enough it was the exact opposite 70% of the people they thought were trustworthy now this is a huge difference.This goes to show you that people when they get to know you when they get to like you they start to trust you so that’s a big difference.

[4:32]Of course there’s a lot more to building Rapport and Trust in making a good initial connection with someone but it’s certainly a good place to start.Making a connection with someone makes them feel more comfortable sharing with you all their aspirations and afflictions to things that you really need to know to succeed in sales and in business.When you build rapport in business keep in mind you want to make a sincerest connection all too often there’s chitchat and there’s small talk before a sales call and it’s contrived.So what can we learn from this.Well the first thing we can learn is that people buy from people they don’t buy from companies they don’t buy from websites that don’t buy from Billboards they buy from people and they buy from people that they know like and trust this is a key point.

[5:22]People buy from people they know like and Trust so remember that you need to get people to know you first to like you second and then trust will follow after that.Driving said that let’s talk about seven things that we can do to help Bill rapport with our relationships the first is to be genuine.

[5:44]Sure you remember before your first day of school at your first job or your first trip to a camp your mother always said to you just be yourself and you’ll be fine but she was right.She was right at camp and she was right at school and she’s right with building Rapport this lesson applies to building rapport.You need to be genuine.A genuine be yourself don’t try to be anything you’re not don’t create a new persona don’t adopt the sales like tone.Just relax smile going with a positive attitude if you do that good things will follow.A genuine Oscar Wilde once said be yourself everyone else is taken that’s really true.Second thing is you need to be warm and friendly.Chilly people get chilly reactions from other people warm people get warm reactions approach Rapport building with the intent to be warm and friendly matter fact approach life with the intent to be warm and friendly.Smile give a firm handshake make eye contact and engage with the other person you’re speaking to.If you’re on the phone do the same thing.Stand up smile if you can’t stand up then just smile the friendliness will show through the phone it’s been proven smile when you’re having a phone conversation.

[7:12]The third thing you need to do is show some genuine interest it’s no surprise to anyone people are self-focused.But this can be usually beneficial for us in business because we need to learn about our prospects our employees or customers before we can provide them with the best Solutions.People want to feel like they have an opening to share with their thinking including their desires their fears and their problems.More genuinely interested you appear the more relaxed and willing to share they will be.

[7:48]Don’t forget sometimes just shut up and listen let them speak let them bear their soul to you as a couple old interviewing tricks to come into play when we’re building rapport.And you can use them to get your prospect employee or customer to open up a little bit the first is you want to ask open-ended questions.Don’t give them an opportunity to just say yes or no.Ask open-ended questions how did you end up working here or when did you realize your son was a great football player.Anything like that that gets them to open up and have conversation is good and the second truck is one of briefly mention is it just be quiet.After the answer a question don’t immediately fired back with another comment.Let it sit in the air for second often times this will make them elaborate even more on the point they just made or the comment they just made.So don’t forget show genuine interest.

[8:46]Number for is don’t seem too needy you know nobody likes a real needy person it gets right on your skin quickly most of us know someone is wanted to be like so so so much that he tried so hard.But that doesn’t work the harder you try the more you seem to push people away.Trying to be like that guy hears needy you can’t force rapport.Show interest donax observant don’t be overly friendly don’t be too pushy or you’ll only turn the other person off.You can’t just walk in there and come off like gangbusters it’s got to be a slow process you need to build that you need to build the relationship in the rapport.

[9:31]Not.Needs calibrating just the right level of Rapport oftentimes people go into an initial relationship in their nervous or their new in their position and they don’t have a lot of confidence they are sensitive to the time of the people there talking to.Dolphin think I’ve been our for this meeting with the CEO I need to use the whole time to get my point across before she throws me out of the room or.Not really sure what I’m talking about so I’m just going to battle a little bit you know they don’t make a conscious decision to do that but that’s what happens because they go into a meeting not prepared and not ready to discuss the points that need to be discussed.Or they do a lot of chit-chat a lot of.Small talk up front or not enough small talk up front you need to be able to gauge that amount of small talk to be able to build in just the right amount of that so you can build rapport.

[10:24]Do your best to read the other person find the right amount of Rapport Focus conversation that should happen prior to the business meeting you also want to make sure you’re giving genuine compliments.There’s an old saying flattery will get you everywhere but I think flattery will get you nowhere but genuine Compliments are endearing and people like them.Feel like someone’s office if you like their website or if you were impressed with the book they just wrote then say so the person you’re saying it too is going to be impressed they’re going to be proud of what they’ve done.They’ve had a recent accomplishment relay your authentic congratulations to them this can go a long way to building rapport.

[11:06]One thing I just heard of was a CEO as part of his 20 mile March what’s the date on his calendar every month and he sits down and he pens a thank-you note to someone.Someone over the last 30 days who he has felt.Genuinely touched by and wants to think he sits down and pens that thank you note he addresses the envelope he sticks that stamp on it puts it in the mail.The recipient of the thank you note of course has no idea that he did all this by himself but they know he wrote the letter and he knows that he did it all.All in all I don’t think it’s a bad habit to a. Seventh and final thing I think you need to do is read the culture.Always be yourself but at the same time you can adjust your approach to the other person or company you’re dealing with don’t change who you are to fit into the culture but be aware of how the culture works and how best to respond.For example if you don’t do a suit and tie joint showing up and you’re Grateful Dead t-shirt probably isn’t going to fly so well.And if it’s a jeans and sneakers Place showing up in a suit might not go over well either you get the idea try to gauge your dress your demeanor to the company or going into.And you don’t need to be in person always to read the culture either subtle points come through on telephone calls and emails look for clues in the greetings and the salutations.Are they formal are the informal do they have a religious twist are they trendy you can read a lot about a person just by an email or a phone call.

[12:43]Wanted also give you some bonus points.Body language the body language is key in any conversation when you’re trying to build rapport you want to lean into the conversation you want to have your arms and legs uncrossed you want to be looking genuinely interested.You want to refer back to things the other person says in the conversation look for a little nuggets of common experiences and things that you are able to comment on outside of the business relationship that you’re talking about.Things that can endear you back to the person you’re speaking to show empathy I think this is true in,every part of what we do in business we want to show empathy for the other person that were talking to,you want to show them that we understand how they feel or what it feels like to be in their position or how we might have been in that position wants and how we got out of its good way to build rapport.

[13:40]Non judgemental don’t go in there a lot of stereotypes and preconceived notions go in there with an open mind.And really with a mind that’s looking forward to meeting the person you’re going to meet that will definitely show through in the conversation and you’ll be able to build rapport with him.Be honest always be honest always admit when you don’t know something or if you made a mistake.I’d much rather hear Let me find out about that for you then some made-up answer about something that I know the guy doesn’t know about so be honest admit when you done something wrong or made a mistake.And be willing to table something you don’t know about and go find out about it follow up afterwards and this is an important one.Remember that relationships are rarely built without an interactive real-time conversation and I phrased it that way because.That’s what I truly believe you need to have a phone call you need to have a face-to-face conversation something that’s Interactive,and happening in real time it’s how you build rapport you don’t build rapport with,email change back and forth or with a text message that has no real time blow you need to have an interactive real-time conversation to build a relationship so remember that pick up the phone or go someone’s hand.And don’t forget in this is a big one don’t forget to smile.It’s really really important you can see it you can feel it people will feel the warp don’t know you’re genuine don’t know you’re there because you’re interested in what they’re saying what they’re doing and you’ll be able to build rapport.

[15:21]So I hope this was helpful.I hope you got something out of it I’d love to hear your thoughts and feedback you can reach me at tpr at pics.com.

[15:33]Music.

[15:43]Join Terry next time.Thanks for hanging in there till the end I really do appreciate it I’m just getting started with this podcast and I welcome your feedback suggestions comments things I can do things I can talk about to help you improve your business.Please visit us at the website www.epremier.net work.com sign up for a mailing list that way I’ll know you’re listening and you’ll keep in touch.

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